Page 492 of Manhattan Bossholes

“See you tomorrow,” I said, still pretending that everything was normal.

James let out a long sigh, as if he realized that I wasn’t going to change my mind. “Yes, you will. Good night, Natalie.”

I slammed the door shut and waited for the car to drive off, but James had clearly instructed the driver to wait until I was inside. I jogged up the walkway and gave a little wave as I darted into my building, and the car finally slid away.

Alone in the tiny lobby, I leaned back against the wall to catch my breath.

How was I going to ever look at that gorgeous mouth of his again and not think about how it felt to have it pressed against mine?

14

JAMES

“Thanks for your hard work, everyone. I’m liking what you’ve been submitting to me. Any questions?”

I glanced around the table at the creative team and noticed that Natalie was the only person not looking at me.

Lavonte raised his hand and I nodded towards him.

“Liking or loving?” he asked tentatively.

I chuckled. “Fair question. Let’s say I’m liking most of it and loving some of it.”

He opened his mouth.

“And no,” I cut him off, “I won’t say who gets which distinction. Just keep doing what you’re doing, okay?” I shot a look at Natalie, but she only maintained eye contact for a second before glancing away again.

Was she regretting what happened on the drive to her place?

“As always, reach out if you have questions,” I said as I stood up. “And thanks for your hard work.” I rapped my knuckles on the table and turned to leave.

“Donuts!” Rhea exclaimed loudly enough to get me to stop. “You can’t go until you grab a donut.” She pointed to the pink boxes spread out on a nearby table.

I usually watched what I ate, but donuts were a weakness, so I followed the crowd over and wound up standing right behind Natalie.

“Hey,” I said.

She turned around, clutching her phone, looking like she’d just gotten bad news. “Hi.”

I felt a stab between my eyebrows at her expression. “You okay? What’s going on?”

“The Bridge Troll is back.” She frowned.

“Excuse me?”

She smirked. “That’s my nickname for MG—the teacher I told you about. He’s been out sick with COVID and teaching on Zoom, but he’s finally well enough to come back to class. Which means I need to brace myself for the grope-fest to come.”

My hackles went up at the thought of some power-tripping teacher putting a finger on her. “My offer to help you stands. Let me help educate him.”

“You were serious about that?” Relief flooded her face. “Can you pick me up tonight after my class?”

I felt a clench at the thought of being with Natalie after-hours again. “Of course. Send me the address and we’ll teach this asshole a lesson.”

Natalie gave me a shockingly shy smile. “I really appreciate it. Thank you, James.”

I wasn’t well acquainted with a less than boisterous Natalie, but I liked this version of her too. I liked all of them, which complicated things, because she’d been avoiding me since the kiss. And she could barely look at me during our weekly meeting. I’d clearly overstepped by kissing her, and now I was kicking myself for making the first move.

Sure, she’d responded like she wanted it as much as I did, but that could’ve just been the heat of the moment. The faces I passed in the hall on the way back to my office didn’t even register as I dissected what had gone on between us in the back of that car. I lived my life following my instincts, and never second-guessed what I did, but when it came to Natalie, I felt like a different version of myself.